Hupmobile Model 20 History

The Model 20 was Hupmobile's first car, shown at the February 1909 Detroit automobile show and built by Robert 'Bobby' Hupp's new Hupp Motor Car Company. It launched as a two-seat runabout priced at $750 — about $100 below a Ford Model T — and drew large cash deposits at the show, financing the start of production. The four-cylinder L-head engine displaced 112 cubic inches (an 86-inch wheelbase chassis) and produced 16–20 horsepower through a two-speed sliding-gear transmission.

Sales ramped quickly: 1,618 cars left the factory in 1909, more than 5,000 in 1910, and over 14,500 by 1912 as body styles expanded from the original runabout to include a torpedo, touring, enclosed coupe, and delivery wagon. Henry Ford reportedly admired the car, questioning whether Ford itself could build as good a small car so cheaply.

Robert Hupp sold his shares in the company in 1911 to pursue other ventures, but the Model 20 carried Hupmobile through its formative years. It remained in production into 1913 — latterly as the Model 20-C — before being supplanted by the larger, more powerful Model 32.